I've been waiting for a long time to have a baby shower. Matt won't let me really buy anything until after we have showers (which is smart, but kinda hard for me). My mom's side of the family had a shower for me this past Saturday, Sept. 15th. To be honest, it was a little weird to finally be having a shower, but at the same time, our time is running out! The Beardalls did a wonderful job decorating and the games weren't completely lame. (You know what I mean.) We did some activities just on paper, and then my favorite was Baby Cranium. The two points Caleen and I got hardly involved our clay at all ;) (Twins - and we were sitting at the table with Cambria and Kaitlyn... so I just pointed ;) and Baby - Caleen took the ball of clay and stuck it up her shirt. hahaha)
Decor
Centerpieces
Mints, favors, and dipping chocolate. Apparently it was supposed to be in a fountain, but the plug was not with the fountain :)
Goodies
More goodies
Decor and Kristine :)
Decor and play-doh for Cranium
Drinks
Decor and Kim prepping bananas
They kinda go all out :)
After games (which I won two of, btw ;)) we had food.
After food, there were presents :)
From Karen, Kim, and Kris
From Karen, Kim, and Kris
From Karen, Kim, and Kris
Karen, Kim, and Kris were also sweet enough to order the diaper bag I'd registered for :)
The loot from Karen, Kim, and Kris - we're spoiled :)
From Angie, Cambria, and Kaitlyn
From Kari
From Sarah Dixon, who couldn't make it :(
From Chris, Tammy, and Traci
From Chris, Tammy, and Traci - I love that it converts to a toddler chair :)
From my parents
From Debbie
From Debbie
From Debbie - I'm so excited about that tote! It goes in her room perfectly :)
Not pictured - Grandma Erdmann gave us $25. Grandma Wilson and Koreen ordered the crib, a crib sheet, and a mattress pad off of our registry. There was also an outfit Kim picked out (but the pic was blurry) and I was informed Kim picked out something she would wear - lace and bows :)
I think we did well. We're going to have one well-dressed little lady here soon :)
Thanks to Gloria for taking note of who gave what, and to Kris for taking pics with my camera while I was opening presents :) My goal is to actually send out thank you cards (I failed at that after our wedding - although I did buy the cards... does that count for anything?) but if I end up failing again - thank you to everyone for the wonderful gifts. They are needed and will be well-used, I'm sure :)
I was pretty exhausted after Saturday. Pleasanton really *is* a huge games, and I did a lot of walking. My feet and ankles were so swollen :( I took it a lot easier on Sunday. Matt wasn't playing the medly, so we were going to hang out a bit more, but flashes and such meant we didn't wander too much. They also were supposed to have Birds of Prey there, but I didn't even think to look for them on Saturday. So when I went on a potty break, I asked one of the info booths where to find them so Matt and I could see them. I got lost, though, and had to ask another booth, when I finally found them. They were doing one of their presentations, so I stayed for that. Afterward, I asked when their next one was, which was at 3pm - and it was 1:30 then, which was when the G3 was competing. I made it over as they were marching into the circle and met back up with Matt. After the competition, Ross confirmed they were playing for the drum majors again - so Matt couldn't see the presentation. I did take him over to the birdies so we could see them though - he just didn't get the whole spiel about the different species. And the birdies are the only things I took pictures of on Sunday :)
Peregrine Falcon
Geer Falcon
Harris Hawk
American Kestrel
I also showed Matt the cool jewelry I liked on Saturday, but I still didn't buy anything. Then we went over to the Welsh Baker. Matt got a sample, and we bought five packages of Welsh cakes mmmm :) As I mentioned earlier, I took it easy on Sunday. When Matt had to go to the drum majors, I stayed at the tent. When Grade 4 competed, I stayed at the tent. Closing massed bands? I was at the tent. Mostly I hung out all afternoon until the band made it back and we got to leave :)
Wasatch leaves straight from the games. (Saves a night on hotel fees, I guess?) So we got everything loaded and everyone changed, and headed out. We stopped....somewhere for dinner. We went to KFC and about half of the group when to Carl's Jr. KFC was so bloody slow. And they lost mine and Matt's order, so we ended up finally getting ours to go. Matt took first shift again, and we had a lovely conversation about - you guessed it - birth and babies. lol Kim swapped Jeff vans, so Matt much more enjoyed the discussion this time around. It was pretty entertaining. Jeff also told us nasty stories from his time as a paramedic. We eventually stopped for gas and potty break, when Jeff took over. Apparently it was Burning Man - and there were lots of crazy hippy vehicles out and about. Janna and I napped for a few hours, and then Janna took over driving. She only made it a couple of hours before she couldn't keep her eyes open, so I took over. I admit, I had a hard time staying awake while she was driving too. I took over the last couple of hours. We ended up taking an unscheduled break in Delle, UT for another potty break. The other van left us. Maybe they figured we were close enough to home? Didn't matter, we made it back to the church we had left the cars at. Once the trucks all got there, we collected the rest of our stuff and headed home, but not without a few Utah County people to drop off. I took another nap on the way to Orem :)
When we got home, there was napping, and then visiting family for Labor Day, where we had pizza and picked up the puppy :) Then there was more napping and some laundry doing. I think I napped a few times throughout Monday :)
Overall, it was a good trip. We had fun. Matt did well, and even though the bands didn't place, they played really well. I got to make new friends in Matt's new band. It was good times. Only downside? All of the walking and sitting made my feet HUGE and ouchie. They had gotten swollen before, but not to the point of pain. After all of my naps Monday, they finally reduced in size somewhat, but now that I've hit trimester 3, I have to be a lot more conscientious of what I do with my feet all day in order to minimize the swelling. Less than fun.
Saturday was when most of the band had solos. Breakfast didn't start until 7, though, so everyone was down to get breakfast then and trying to leave by about 7:30 for the games. The milk? Nasty. I did have some pancakes too, however. We got our car loaded (well, and the drums back on the truck), added Dan-o, and headed to the games. Dan got us to the less crowded parking lot quite handily. I was impressed. Then we found where they had set up the tent, dropped stuff off, and went to find out where the heck we needed to check in for solos. After we found that, we had to find out where they would be soloing :) It was kind of nice because all of the drumming judges were right in a row, so we could watch everyone else solo. I videoed Matt's solo, but I did take some pics of him warming up and rehearsing beforehand.
Sara was also warming up - accompanied by Mike and Ross
Do you know how hard it is to get a good picture of him while playing?
He is either looking down...
or has his eyes shut.
When he finally opens his eyes - he's looking off to the side.
He tells me this is why he wears sunglasses when soloing - so the judge can't tell :)
Wahoo! eyes open!
Matt was accompanied by Justin.
Glenn warming up with one of his tenors - so I snapped a shot. I'm like the paparazzi :)
Here he goes again.... sigh.
Matt's G2 MSR solo - judge: Blair Brown of SFU
Pleasanton did things interestingly. Grade 3 competed first, then 2, then 1, and then 4. Odd. The band competed in MSR on Saturday - so Matt played with them (he's not fully on the medly yet). I opted to go shopping while they flashed. After they flashed, they had lunch. I went with fair food on Saturday, once I got around to eating that is. Bigger games have way more vendors - so there's actually something you don't necessarily see at every other games. Only problem? So much walking! At least most of the vendors were indoors. That was nice. I purchased nothing, though. There was one shop with some cool jewelry, though. And another with amber jewelry that was reasonably priced. They didn't have the ring I liked in my size, though :( But they did have a business card, so I picked up one of those. The Welsh Baker was there, too. They were at Salt Lake and Payson this year. I finally tried a sample and loved it. I went back Sunday to make my purchases from him. Mmm Welsh cakes.
Oh right, results. Dan-o took first in G2 snare. Matt took 2nd. He was pleased. It was his first time not being beaten by small children (as he likes to put it). There were four competitors. Logan Taylor, who used to be in the same grade as Matt, is now a grade 1 - and he beat Mikey lol. The band took 4th - but it was a three-way tie for 2nd that came down to ensemble preference. Neither band (G3 or G4) placed either day. However, they both played really well. These are the kinds of things that happen when you travel out of state to a large games. Competition gets stiffer.
After the competition, they have the bands go get their picture taken - it's like marching band competitions all over again.
Getting situated
Nice picture
Be silly!
In the afternoon, the Grade 3 got to play for drum majors. They told me it was at the track, so after finding food (a spicier than anticipated - and with much more broccoli than I would prefer) chicken teriyaki bowl and fries... because I was craving fries, I went to the track where they were doing athletics. After my lunch and seeing no way there could be drum majors there, I wandered off looking for a different entrance to the track, where I ran into Andrew :) It was entertaining. First, he comes up and molests my belly. Then he tells me he had just finished tuning Desert Skye, but since he'd had a few drinks it went something like this: Sounds great! Wait, let me get my tuner to make sure :) (This exchange is more funny in person....) Anyway, so I walked with him back to where LA was warming up and I eventually found where Wasatch was waiting to go on for drum majors, which is also where LA's drum corps ended up.
I as amused by the sporran coat racks - hence the butt shot.
Wasatch Grade 3 playing for the drum major competition
Our friend and world champion, Jason Paguio
A bit of the drum major competition, because it's much more fun in video than still frame.
Since the track was also where closing massed bands was, I opted to stay until then. Ugh, so much standing. The LA Scots and the Marine Corps Band, San Diego played together - like LA did in Vegas. It was pretty cool, because I'm a nerd like that. There are videos of that too, but this post is already long :) But really, the grandstand show took ages and I was so ready for massed bands. But their chief rode into the show in a pretty sweet 1930 something Rolls Royce :)
Our friend from White Peaks, Julia came down to solo as well. She ended up in the rank just to my right at massed bands, so I snapped a few shots. (Yes, they're kinda creeper like being from below, but that was the only way I could get full body shots being next to the fence).
As a side note - I always thought that kilt would look swanky with a red shirt. I'm glad Julia did it :)
Saturday night, we ended up walking to dinner at Fuddruckers. We went with Mikey, Dan-o, Nick, and Janna. We also ended up meeting up with Mike Page. It was a party :) Other than that, nothing too exciting happened that night. At least, not that I remember :)
Over Labor Day weekend, Matt and I went with the band down to Pleasanton, CA for the Scottish Festival there. I was excited as I'd never been, and it is supposed to be a huge games.
Initially, I was planning on working Thursday and just leaving a few hours early to take the company car back and finish packing. However, by the time Wednesday evening/Thursday morning rolled around, I was feeling slightly overwhelmed at getting everything done. Mostly because I only found out on Wednesday what time we had to leave on Friday :p Fortunately, work only had one project going, so they didn't need me, and I took the day off to get ready.
I contemplated not sleeping at all, but we did end up sleeping for about three hours before getting up and finishing packing and driving to Bountiful. We left at about 2:40am from Payson in order to be in Bountiful to meet the band and be ready to go at 4am. Ugh. Matt's parents were kind enough to watch Mocha for us, and I took her over there Thursday evening. They also came and fed the bird and the cat at our house. Yay for family who live closeby :)
Wasatch is pretty cool in that they rent vehicles to take on trips. There were six of us in our minivan. And, even though it was a Chrysler Town and Country - it was pretty decked out. I had to pull out the manual to figure out what all of the buttons on the steering wheel were and to figure out how to make the air control work right for the back. Only thing was we had satellite radio, but not satellite navigation :) Also cool about Wasatch is that they not only give you the directions to where you're going, but they list who is in which vehicle and phone numbers so you can get in touch with the other cars in your group to schedule things like food and potty breaks :)
Our drive down was pretty unexciting. Matt took first shift, and refused to let me sleep so I could help keep him awake. When Kim took over, I tried to doze off, but we ended up chatting with Janna about babies and stuff. Needless to say, I didn't sleep one bit on the drive there. We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Dublin, CA, and it was pretty sweet. Apparently pretty sweet accommodations are also the norm. This band is great ;) Wasatch does a "flash practice" when they get to the hotel, but since Ross was flying in, it took awhile before flash happened. It was pretty chilly Friday night as well, so I snapped a few pics when the drummers started flash and went back upstairs to relax. Okay, I really got snagged by Kylene and met some more people in the band and chatted for a long while before making it back upstairs, but still....
Janna, Matt, Dan, Mike, Nick
Dan, Mike, Nick
Janna, Mike, Nick
Janna, Mike, Nick, someone I don't know, Vivian, Addison, Lauren
Vivian, Addison, Lauren
Funny story - apparently the band got kicked out of the parking lot by the complex security. The hotel manager apparently was pretty upset about that and had a little chat with them. Oh well, it just meant we got to go to dinner 5 minutes earlier. We went with Kylene, Dan, Mike, Nick, and Callin to a Chinese place just down the road. It was pretty good. Although, I'm not really a Chinese fan. After dinner, it was mandatory that we stop by The Happy Mantis Lounge to make an appearance at Glitter Fest. We stayed long enough to get some drinks and chat for a minute before heading back to our room.
I think Sara has too much time on her hands :) But isn't the door cute?
Drinks were green apple slushies rimmed with pixie stix.
After we left Glitter Fest - the snares decided they needed to play even more. (Umm, yeah, they did that before flash too - I don't quite understand it :)) This worked out perfectly for me as I was dead tired. I took a nice hot shower and got ready for bed. I was just about done when Matt got back home and we could finally sleep :)
We were married on August 11, 2007 in the Manti, Utah LDS temple. We currently live in Lima, Peru. Our little ones are our cats Cinco and Munchkin, and dog Mocha, who are being fostered back home in Utah. We welcomed the first HUMAN member of our family on November 4, 2012, our little girl, Henlie. Our second tiny human, Andrew, joined us March 15, 2015.
